Utanian Press Agency, Release 4 December 300 AP

UPA (Utanian Press Agency)
Release: December 4, 300 AP.

President Okarvits sets Utania's Dignania agenda

Abridged version of a speech made to the Utanian Parliament, Monday afternoon, December 4th.

"I come to you asking you not to overrule an executive order issued this very day regarding the dispatching of an additional 8,000 soldiers to Dignania to aid in the vital peacekeeping work there.

"Many ask me why I have made such a commitment for Utania to Dignania. Dignania is a nation torn apart by a civil war that should never have come about. I believe that we cannot stand idly by, and watch a nation, gripped by conflict, dissolve into a primoidal soup of anarchy. There is no industry, and no commerce in Dignania, except that which supports the war.

"It is our understanding that Dignania dissolved after the communist Brotherhood walked away from post-election negotiations. Since then, they have made plain their objective to overrun the northern, democratic Dignania. This cannot be tolerated. Utania will give no quarter to those forces in the world committed to war over negotiation, to conflict over peace. Utania will continue to support peace in the region behind the lines. We also hope to provide some semblence of normality for the people there, providing education for the few that we can.

"It will be a terrible day for Dignania if this war continues for too many years, and when it ends, the government attempts to reconstruct the country. Already most of their teenage population have lacked basic education for two years. If the war continues, and entire half-generation will have reached adulthood without a full education. The impact upon subsequent generations will be astounding. There will be little chance of them returning to school, therefore, an entire generation of scientists, economists, engineers and other learned men and women will be absent from Dignanian society. Atop this, several hundred thousand of these same learned men will have been lost to the war.

"It is for these reasons that this war must be brought to a satisfactory conclusion as soon as possible, but also, while the war continues, that humanitarian efforts are made to ensure that the population are fed, educated and put into a mindset devoted to peaceful reconstruction of their nation, without recriminations against their former enemies.

"If this is not done, we risk leaving a wartorn nation behind without the resources to do anything more than war against itself. It will be decades before such a nation can overcome hunger, starvation and disaster, let alone join the rest of the world in economic progress.

"And the need is urgent now. General Gordain, commander of the Utanian Peacekeeping force in Dignania, tells me that with the allied advance against the communist forces, the front line is moving, and increased pressure is upon the allied forces to maintain supply lines and security, while also providing for the refugees that are passing through the combat lines from the south to the north. He has requested of me several thousand reinforcements to his efforts in Dignania, as well as greater humanitarian and educational aid and I have agreed.

"For these reasons, and for the purposes of promoting an end to this war, an additional 8,000 troops from Utania's second Infantry division shall make their way to Dignania as soon as possible. Several hundred of these shall travel by airforce transport jets, and I shall request air clearance from the UTFN government for a stopover."